…about what to blog about today. I thought maybe I should talk about Google Chrome, and its new bookmark-syncing capabilities — but then I realized that I truly have no clue what Google Chrome is. (Let’s be honest, you probably don’t really, either.) And I kind of sort of don’t sync stuff, so that was pretty much out. But I do want to talk about widgets. Specifically, all the cool retailer widgets I’m about to download now that Halloween is over and Black Friday is 25 days away. So, yeah. It’s time to talk shopping, folks.
Gilt Groupe is one of my personal must-shop sites for impressive discounts on the best designer items. But it can be fickle, and thanks to its auction-oriented setup, the best garb goes quick. Just downloaded: Gilt’s countdown widget, providing a real-time countdown to the best sales. Geeeeniusssss.
Not that I do my holiday shopping on eBay or anything (okay, a few times, but just for my B-list recipients), but they’ve got a handy widget that allows you to easily monitor the auctions you’re watching — so nobody will outbid you on the Swarovski crystal duck paperweight you’re eyeing for your great aunt.
Shopping online is also almost always guaranteed to save you some cash, compared to in-store purchases. GoToDaily ensures that you’re always in the know about where to find the best cyber deals — all from the comfort of your very own desktop. Track down coupon codes, promo codes, printable in-store coupons and saving tips for thousands of stores. This coupon widget even comes with a mini search box that allows you to use to find your favorite online stores and coupons by keywords or store name.
There are 50 days ‘til Christmas Eve — get shopping!
Friday Fun: Are You Ready For Some Footbaaallll?!?!?!
It’s that time of year again. Months of loyally watching each game on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, following each play yard-for-yard, has all led up to this moment: an unexpected (and if you’re not a Cardinals or Steelers fan, anticlimactic) matchup for Super Bowl 43. I could rattle on about this subject (in case you couldn’t already figure it out: I LOVE FOOTBALL), but that wouldn’t fit with the social media theme of this blog. I hope the following will.
Having spent a good deal of my time absorbed in following several teams this season, InGameNow could become my new best friend. Through Ryan Spoon’s blog I discovered that InGameNow has recently launched a widget which allows fans to bring live sports scoreboards to their websites. In addition to the new widget, InGameNow allows users to share analysis, gossip and more with other fans. According to his blog, during the AFC Championship game, over 2,500 new posts were exchanged.
I, for one, will definitely be logging on this Sunday. Now, if only we could get the Bears to the Super Bowl…(a girl can dream).
Arnold Schwarzenneger is mad and he’s taking it to the social media streets. The California governor/action movie star is on Twitter, and has a widget in an effort to try to get his budget passed.
To solicit generosity from younger generations, the Salvation Army is moving its fundraising efforts into the digital world (but still takin’ it to the streets, don’t worry)!
I love finding new online tools that make our jobs and lives a little bit easier. Two of my new favorite finds are Quibblo and Freedback, both of which we used for our KijijiNational Declutter Day site.
We used Quibblo to create a free, online personality quiz (“What Kind of Packrat Are You?”), which also offers a widget that is embeddable on other Web sites, so you can see it directly on the Declutter Day page.
We also decided to use Freedback, which allows you to instantly create Web forms with no coding necessary, for our Declutter Day Contest submissions. For just $20 per month, Freedback also allows submitters to upload a file (such as a photo), and it saves all of the form data and attachments on its own server, so you don’t have to worry about submissions crashing your e-mail server.
Both of these are great applications to keep in mind for any future campaigns!
Take our client Kijiji’s What Kind of Packrat Are You? Quiz (written by yours truly) to find out whether you have “packratitis” or are relatively unafflicted. I’m a Minimalist Maniac, for the record — I love getting rid of stuff!
And if you or your loved ones need some decluttering help, you can enter to win a decluttering visit from Clean Sweep’s Tava Smiley! This is all in celebration of the Kijiji-coined National Declutter Day, next Saturday, November 22.
Some say Facebook’s redesign has killed Facebook Applications, simply by moving them to the “Boxes” tab in the new layout rather than having them on the main page. Bad news for Slide and RockYou, since most of their business involves Facebook widgets.
What’s the difference between a widget and an application? Apparently, nothing. And “application” is becoming the favored terminology again with the rise of Apple’s iPhone App Store.
MSNBC has just launched a news-visualization tool called Spectra. It’s really pretty to look at, but I can’t see it being easier to read than a regular webpage.
Seeding significantly increases the probability that a widget or social application will find an audience, get installed, and be shared. This article shares several options for seeding programs.
Causes and iLike are the first two Facebook applications to get “preferred” status, which means they will be promoted in users’ News Feeds more often than others.
